The effect of mentoring on the development of leaders : a qualitative study

Abstract

Organisations depend on strong and competent leaders for their sustainability, profitability and competitiveness. Therefore organisations have an extremely strong focus on development, and especially on leader development. Mentoring has been recognised as a developmental tool (Truter, 2008, p.61) and is therefore employed by many organisations to foster such development. The primary aim of this study is to determine whether and to what effect, mentoring can be used to foster leader development in a business context. The research is of a qualitative, phenomenological nature and enquires into the perceptions, personal experiences and knowledge of people who have been exposed to mentoring and leader development, in order to understand how mentoring has played a role in the development of their leadership. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of six participants in order to collect the required data; and South African and international literature was consulted in order to interpret the interview data accurately in terms of the primary aim of the study. The study revealed the following results amongst others: <ul> <li> There is a connection between mentoring and leader development and mentoring can be used to develop leaders.</li> <li> Leader development is not possible in the absence of mentoring.</li> <li> Mentoring can contribute to leader development by focussing on a person’s development and teaching that person to become a good or a better leader.</li> <li> Mentoring has the ability to positively impact or benefit leader development.</li> <li> Mentoring has the ability to develop a person’s leadership capability and competence (i.e. his/her ability to be a leader).</li> <li> Mentoring can be used as a tool to develop effective leaders.</li> </ul>